Jin heard a loud bang and let out a startled groan as pain exploded around her left shoulder. For a moment, all sounds of battle were drowned by a light buzzing in her ear and her eyesight whitened out and filled with bluish-purple twinkling dots of light. She only vaguely registered the conversation going on between her enemy and her ally as she fought to gain control of her knees that had gone weak the moment that the bullet had pierced her skin. Slowly, her senses recovered and she stood bent but a little straighter from when she had apparently curled upon herself, the naginata still in a death grip with both hands from when she clamped on it in pain.

Jin was no stranger to pain at this point, having been blasted badly by a cero in the recent mission to the real world, and it troubled her that the new injury had affected her like never before, making her lose control of her body and senses even for just a little bit. In a battle where she wasn't lucky enough to have an ally providing some sort of distraction, it would have been a devastating lapse.

Shaking her head internally, she moved on to the next matter at hand. She was not used to handling her naginata one-handed and she had to consider trying it out or recalling shikai. At the very least, she decided that she would need to check if one arm could carry the weight of the weapon effectively before she settled on either option.

Still a little disoriented from the momentary lapse and more than a little distracted by the slight buzzing, now in her head, she released the naginata from her right uninjured arm and let her left one lift it effortlessly. Only then did she realize that neither arm hurt like before, although there was a stiffness and a throbbing sensation on her left shoulder. Casting a surprised look at the area, she found white viscous goop spouting out of the bullet hole and solidifying around her entire shoulder in the form of a bony mask with a short beak.

Jin gaped at the sight, now finding the likely reason for her extreme reaction to the injury and watching just how masks she had been removing from her leg bandages were formed. It was great that her injury was healing so quickly, she thought, but the mask wouldn't come off like before and the buzzing in her head was starting to gain some semblance of language. Jin frowned deeply; she had a sinking feeling that she had just lost ground in her struggle against her inner hollow.

Judecca smiled as the fist found its mark, letting it dig into his face and send him flying against the wall. He wasn't entirely sure why he did it. Was it because of the bloodlust in her voice? Maybe the loose sanity in her eyes? Either way, something about phoenix's demeanor just made him feel like taking a punch to the face. He was thrown backwards from the force, slamming him against the wall of the seireitei hard enough to leave an indentation, but on the whole he took little damage.

"Strategy... He said as he regained his balance, and spat bloody, broken teeth to the ground. "Never much cared for it. I'm only hear for one reason, to kill and reap. You're not a stranger to that feeling, though, are you? The overwhelming urge to just kill something?"

He rubbed his bruised cheek thoughtfully as his eyes turned to Jin, watching hollowfication heal her wounded arm.

Serenity danced back in the nick of time, barely being grazed by the swing. The small amount of contact left a sting in it's wake, but no pain showed on the young girls face. If anything, it looked as if she was enraged that he had touched her, and using shunpo, she dashed to the left and behind him. Swiveling to keep him in her sight , she brought her zanpakuto perpendicular with her body. Her words weren't yelled or even loud, but an edge of ferocity could be heard in every syllable. "Bring Forth Your Flame, Tsumetai Enkou-tsuin (Icy Flame Twin)." The blue flame furled quickly from the now twinned blades tip to the girls shoulders, and her eyes hazed with the protective film.

With a smooth movement, she shunpoed to his back, and swung both blades from opposite directions.

Jin frowned irritably at the implication of her enemy's words. She'd slipped, yes, but she still had control although how strong or fleeting it was remained to be seen. She briefly tried to pry off the mask that looked much like shoulder armor at the moment, but it hurt more than it did the times she had pried the other ones off. Perhaps the healing was not done or the hollow was gaining even more ground than she thought.

After one last unsuccessful tug, Jin glanced at her masked comrade, trying to convey how worried she was. With a jerk of her head towards the enemy and the wall behind him, she raised her weapon and began charging, clearly expecting Phoenix to do the same. Phoenix seemed to get her message and began charging as well, but while Phoenix continued in her attack, Jin stopped short and chanted, "Shitotsu Sansen (Beak-Piercing Triple Beam)". A golden triangle formed on her finger in preparation for the spell.

Phoenix wasn't actually sure what Jin had in mind; they hadn't worked together long enough for that kind of rapport, even if neither one of them were being influenced by inner hollows at the moment. But she supposed it didn't matter all that much. It was either kill or be killed, and she had no desire to die again. As she charged at Judecca, she readied her sword, intending to slice his head off.

Ptolomea was impressed with the array of skills his opponent was showing, but he hadn't stepped onto as many battlefields in his life as he had to be beaten in one blow. He saw her vanish, and whille he wasn't fast enough to track a shunpo, he knew that the most likely places to attack would be his back or flanks. He braced himself for a back attack, and when she materialized, he raised his arms against her blades, which cut into the skin, but not deep enough to cause any real damage. After absorbing the force of her swings, he threw his arms outward, causing her arms to fly open and her guard to break. he then turned, throwing a light punch toward her torso and sending her flying backwards.

"You've got some skill, kid." He said, sincerely. "But it'll take more than textbook strategy to beat me."

Against Phoenix and Jin

While his body retained a great deal of resiliance even after taking Jin's ferocious first attack, it simply wouldn't be pleasant to have his head severed. Judecca batted down the first few thrusts by Phoenix using the bladed end of his left revolver, unwittingly going along with their plan in that he had completely forgotten Jin for a moment. When Phoenix went for her coup de grace he needed to reinforce his left arm with his right to prevent her blade from reaching his neck, but ultimately succeeded in pushing her momentum away.

He didn't have the time to mount an attack with her sticking so close to him, but he didn't really care. this was part of the fun. Unfortunately, it was around this time he realized that a spell was being charged up.

"Tsk, I fucking hate it when they're clever." Judecca spat, trying to aim a pistol at Jin before she could cast, but interrupted when phoenix leapt forward and their blades locked again.

"Phoenix, get back!" Jin yelled as the golden triangle on her finger stretched into three beams of light, eventually forming a fast-advancing triangular force field that was meant to slam the arrancar into the wall and immobilize him there. She hoped that it would keep him steady and defenseless long enough for Phoenix to finish him off by beheading or bisecting him or at least deal him a great enough damage that he remained vulnerable for longer.